Search Results

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Item
    The Bouguer-Beer-Lambert Law: Shining Light on the Obscure
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH Verl., 2020) Mayerhöfer, Thomas G.; Pahlow, Susanne; Popp, Jürgen
    The Beer-Lambert law is unquestionably the most important law in optical spectroscopy and indispensable for the qualitative and quantitative interpretation of spectroscopic data. As such, every spectroscopist should know its limits and potential pitfalls, arising from its application, by heart. It is the goal of this work to review these limits and pitfalls, as well as to provide solutions and explanations to guide the reader. This guidance will allow a deeper understanding of spectral features, which cannot be explained by the Beer-Lambert law, because they arise from electromagnetic effects/the wave nature of light. Those features include band shifts and intensity changes based exclusively upon optical conditions, i. e. the method chosen to record the spectra, the substrate and the form of the sample. As such, the review will be an essential tool towards a full understanding of optical spectra and their quantitative interpretation based not only on oscillator positions, but also on their strengths and damping constants.
  • Item
    Beyond Beer's Law: Revisiting the Lorentz-Lorenz Equation
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH Verl., 2020) Mayerhöfer, Thomas G.; Popp, Jürgen
    In this contribution we show how the Lorentz-Lorenz and the Clausius-Mosotti equations are related to Beer's law. Accordingly, the linear concentration dependence of absorbance is a consequence of neglecting the difference between the local and the applied electric field. Additionally, it is necessary to assume that the absorption index and the related refractive index change is small. By connecting the Lorentz-Lorenz equations with dispersion theory, it becomes obvious that the oscillators are coupled via the local field. We investigate this coupling with numerical examples and show that, as a consequence, the integrated absorbance of a single band is in general no longer linearly depending on the concentration. In practice, the deviations from Beer's law usually do not set in before the density reaches about one tenth of that of condensed matter. For solutions, the Lorentz-Lorenz equations predict a strong coupling also between the oscillators of solute and solvent. In particular, in the infrared spectral region, the absorption coefficients are prognosticated to be much higher due to this coupling compared to those in the gas phase. © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.
  • Item
    Beer's Law-Why Integrated Absorbance Depends Linearly on Concentration
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH Verl., 2019) Mayerhöfer, Thomas G.; Pipa, Andrei V.; Popp, Jürgen
    As derived by Max Planck in 1903 from dispersion theory, Beer's law has a fundamental limitation. The concentration dependence of absorbance can deviate from linearity, even in the absence of any interactions or instrumental nonlinearities. Integrated absorbance, not peak absorbance, depends linearly on concentration. The numerical integration of the absorbance leads to maximum deviations from linearity of less than 0.1 %. This deviation is a consequence of a sum rule that was derived from the Kramers-Kronig relations at a time when the fundamental limitation of Beer's law was no longer mentioned in the literature. This sum rule also links concentration to (classical) oscillator strengths and thereby enables the use of dispersion analysis to determine the concentration directly from transmittance and reflectance measurements. Thus, concentration analysis of complex samples, such as layered and/or anisotropic materials, in which Beer's law cannot be applied, can be achieved using dispersion analysis. ©2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.